By IANS
Talwara (Punjab) : Bringing the legal system virtually to the people’s doorstep in one of the most backward areas of Punjab, the state’s first mobile court – the second in the country – was inaugurated Tuesday in this town of Hoshiarpur district.
The air-conditioned mobile bus, custom-made to function as a moving court, was jointly inaugurated by Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at Talwara, 200 km from state capital Chandigarh.
Incidentally, Hoshiarpur district was once considered one of the most litigious districts in the country with people filing cases on the most trivial of issues. Many of such cases – including one of a man taking another to court over breaking a saucer of a tea set – are listed in the gazetteers of the district.
Justice Jain said the mobile court will have fixed days for conducting proceedings in the designated areas of the district so that people could avail the facility at their doorstep.
Badal likened the mobile court to an era of “judicial sangat darshan” – a reference to ‘sangat darshans’ or public hearings he holds twice a week for public from Punjab.
The first mobile court was set up in Pulhana area of Haryana’s backward district of Mewat in August this year.
Punjab’s first mobile court will cater to Talwara, Mukerian, Hajipur and Kamahi Devi blocks of the district comprising nearly 300 villages.
The court, set up under the slogan “Reaching the unreached”, will take up